Lessons, Week 63

Went over some Weather Report stuff...and some funk.

EN informed me that he's leaving Madison in August. His girlfriend got a job out east.

So I'll soon find myself at a cross roads on the lessons front. The choice being to start up with a new instructor or to take some time off. There are other good folks at Madison Music Foundry to take up with...but I am leaning towards time off. As it is I feel like I don't "practice" enough anymore. I've got over a year of lessons under my belt and I haven't REALLY worked on any of the concepts presented in that time. There's a pile of instructional books sitting unused. The best use of my time would undoubtably be to spend 30-60 minutes a week working on those things. Of course, that's the rub. Self discipline is harder than just showing up to a lesson once a week and having someone crack the whip on you.

My purpose in starting lessons this most recent go around was three fold...to improve my skills, get "serious" about drums, and to get an outside assessment of my skill level. It succeeded in all of that, but more importantly, it succeeded in helping me get my mojo back after the crushing blow to my ego that getting booted from SPB handed me. In retrospect, leaving that band was the best possible thing that could have happened for my drumming, because it pushed me to work harder and freed me to explore other genres and styles...and got me playing with other people. It's been almost two years now since I left SPB and about a year and a half since I started lessons. But I feel like I've made five or more years worth of progress...both in skills and in attitude.

I'll admit that the lessons have gotten routine, though, and that I'm not trying as hard as I did at the start. I'm not pushing myself and I'm not practicing really at all. In large part it's just recent circumstances causing the lull...too many bands, too many trips out of town...not enough time in the day. But the craziness of learning new set lists for two new bands is nearly over and the travelling season will be done soon too. Time to return to the woodshed and make sure that I don't start taking things for granted and getting sloppy. Bass has been a pleasant diversion, and I'll continue with that, but drums are still the primary instrument. And there's so much more improvement to be had. Getting back to practicing an hour or two a day would be a great goal...or at least to get that done 3-4 times a week.

It's been a good chapter, this time with EN, but I think my adventure with drum lessons may be ending for a while. I'm sure I'll return to them, but it's a good time to stop and take stock of where I'm at and what I'm trying to accomplish, and to rededicate myself to my own personal practice.